A/N: This one was rather lengthy. ; Enjoy!

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Chapter 3: Tardy reunions

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK

The impetuous sound broke into Misty's ears as she finished unpacking her clothes in room 17. She turned as she heard the sound, curious, and walked towards the door, with a sock in one hand. Twisting the knob, she only smirked as she saw the spiky haired wonder grinning sheepishly at her. Gary frowned, noticing the sock in her hand, and raised an ironic eyebrow.

"Misty... you sock"

Misty laughed wholeheartedly and dropped the sock, smugly letting him know his taunting didn't have any effect in her. Liar, liar, it really did, but in a really, really good way. But as she was prepared to reply something regarding his bad pun, she saw the glint of humour in his face fade away as he placed his hands on her shoulders and planted a soft kiss on her forehead.

"Come on Red, Let's go, it's time" a hint of tragedy was heavy on his voice.

'Oh...' no wonder the change of mood Gary had just displayed, after all, she could already feel jittery about the situation as well, and they weren't even her parents she was going to see after—what—eight years? Misty shook her head, forcing a perfect smile and graced her thumb across his cheek. "Come on, what are we waiting for?" She said cheery, trying to lighten up the mood.

Walking through the hallway of green wallpaper, they managed to walk down the stairs at a smooth pace. Gary Oak had not yet seen his parents, it had been May who had paged him using what used to be Professor Oak's beeper to let him know that they were there. He had blinked a couple of times, unbelieving, and had changed to the most informal outfit he could have found. Everything sent out a message to him, his was that he wasn't fretting over them. Those times had passed. So clad in his cargo jeans and black shirt, he walked down the stairs, with a hollow expression in his eyes. The final door remained unopened.

In the other side, a woman that had more than 40 years on her but appeared 35 at her best, was standing in the living room, with a wine glass in her delicate hand. Her blonde shoulder length hair seemed to frame the elegance of her formal wear, and the pearl necklace around her neck shimmered in the soft autumn light of the evening. Next to her, in a Victorian lounge leather chair, a man, almost 50 years old, and showing them, was sitting in a navy suit, that looked expensive, but brought out the brown hair, still untamed and unscarred by age.

The woman's bright blue eyes shifted as the door opened and turned to the sound, making her bright yellow hair spiral around her for an instant. Settling her cold eyes on her youngest son, she smiled delicately. "My god, Stephen, look at how tall he is" her highly aristocratic voice spoke first. "He must've gotten that from his grandfather, that giant" She accused, letting out a controlled and probably too calculated laugh.

The man sitting in the leather chair dropped the newspaper he was reading and stood up, taking a cigar out his mouth, letting out a puff of smoke as he stood up. But before he could greet his son in a proper way, his wife rolled her eyes. "Good grief, Gary, could you find something less appropriate to wear to dinner?"

"For Heaven's sake, Marie, let the kid talk!" The man softly said, staring into his son, with a hint of pride too faint to be spotted by anyone else but him.

Gary's blue eyes shifted as he stared to his mother, and back to his father. He nodded shortly. "I see you've made it back well" he noted, distant.

Marie smiled, smugly, but the smile faltered as she noticed for the first time, the orange haired girl standing besides his son. "Oh dear, and who might you be?" She addressed to Misty

Gary coughed, trying to clear up his throat and answering for her. "Stephen, Marie..." Both parents winced almost imperceptibly as their son addressed to them by their first name. "... This is Misty Waterflower... my girlfriend"

Misty's eyes travelled to Gary; he was nervous... yes, and she was most definitely petrified, good god, what did she do now, did she shake their hands, did she nod, did she wave, did she tie them up and beg them to like her? She let out a shaky breath, prepared to say some cliché like 'pleased to meet you' or 'hey, nice curtains', but before she could stutter out something she would regret, Gary's mother took a sip out of her crystal glass and eyed her warily. "Very well, what a lovely girl, don't you think Stephen?"

"Yes, Marie..." Stephen agreed with his wife, without any hint of interest in the subject.

"What, Misty? She's great, mom" A nervous chuckle followed as May spoke up for the first time. Gary's head jerked to where she was standing, practically unnoticeable. Had she always been there? It appeared so, and as May stood quietly almost in the corner of the room Gary studied her silently. It was odd, she appeared almost... submissive. May threw a tentative smile at the red head, still petrified in her spot, which loosened her up a bit.

But the awkward moment of silence that ensued made Misty tense up again.

It wasn't broken until the maid walked in and announced dinner was ready.

The dining room had never looked so glorious. The table was almost too weak for the feast it was holding, every kind of meat, vegetable, and drink was laid in the middle, as the shinning china accentuated the entire pompous outlook. Misty gaped, she had never seen so many forks by her dish, what was she supposed to do with all of them? Gary elbowed her softly and as Misty looked up to him, Gary flashed a smile.

Her eyebrows shot up, he hadn't done that ever since they climbed down the stairs. He motioned the fork and knife she should use for the first dish, and she blushed briefly, was she really that transparent? Misty looked embarrassed but got over it quickly enough, mentally thanking him.

Okay... so it wasn't going that bad.

"So, Misty, is it, Are you a pokemon trainer like my son?" Marie questioned, coldly.

Misty and Gary exchanged concerned glances. So much for a pleasant evening. Misty coughed. "Actually... I'm kinda like a part time gym leader"

Marie nodded slowly, showing no interest in the subject. "I see... is that how you met?" She addressed the question to both of them.

Gary and Misty exchanged yet another look. Gary's parents were really uninformed. Gary cleared his throat, and cracked his neck to one side. "Look, uh.. m... Marie, I'm not a pokemon trainer anymore"

This last part finally seemed to snatch Stephen's attention away from the newspaper he was holding up. He eyed Gary cautiously and drifted for a moment his eyes to Misty. "Not a trainer anymore, son? What happened?"

"Uh, dad" May interrupted "It's really not that big a deal, he quit pokemon training and became a researcher... like grandpa?" She finished, under her breath.

Stephen's eyes wavered, nodding. "Ah, see Marie? That's not that bad"

Gary and Misty exchanged one last look, before slumping their shoulders in defeat. "Marie, Stephen... May" He should have known this would come up. "Actually, I'm not a researcher anymore. Three pairs of baffled eyes tore into him. "I quit that line of work recently, uh.. I—"

Stephen gaped. "Son, Oaks don't quit" he said sternly, folding his newspaper, completely focused on his son for the very first time. The family name was on the game, after all. "What are you up to now?" he questioned, harshly.

Gary shifted uncomfortably. "I don't know. It's what I'm trying to figure out" he let out a breath, starting to lose his patience. Misty's eyes widened, this was not good. "It's NOT that big of a deal, I'm 18, for god's sake" he blurted out, exasperated. Misty's hand rested on his knee, soothing him almost instantly, and he closed his eyes, clenching his jaw as he breathed in slowly.

Marie and Stephen looked at one another, raising an eyebrow at their son's outburst. Marie sighed, drinking what was left of her glass of red wine. She gulped, without a second thought. "So, Misty, isn't it?" She questioned yet again. "Where are you from?"

May sighed, as she dove into her peas, uncomfortable by the whole situation. Yes, things were tense. But for the very first time, the entire core family was there, her mom, her dad, her little brother, all sitting around a table, and Misty being there made it all the better. Yes, she had hated them for being absent, but how can anyone resist the concept of being a family again? Things were tense alright, but she would at least try to make things work. She needed it, she needed their approval, the same approval that they gave Gary countless times when he was a kid, but never gave her, that used to make her think that they had just wanted a boy to preserve the family last name and that was it, but now... Could she finally get it? She honestly didn't know. But she would try to find out.

Misty let out a breath, exhaling slowly, the question still freshly dangling in the air.

My god, this evening was going to be very, very torturous.

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"Stephen..."

The middle aged man was sitting in the leather armchair in the comfortable library the house had. Clad in a red silk robe, he flipped aimlessly through the pages of his newspaper.

"Stephen!" Marie's voice shouted again, summoning his attention. Stephen rolled his eyes, and dropped his newspaper, folding it in his lap.

"What is it, Marie?" he said, his monotone voice directed at his wife.

Marie sighed, letting out an overly exaggerated breath, and placed her perfectly manicured hands on her hips as she started to pace around, walking with the distinguished sway in the hips aristocratic women had. "Good grief, Stephen, you barely pay any attention to me" She said coldly, but more uninterested than she should have been. "Anyway, what ARE we going to do about this situation?"

Stephen hung his head low, a bit too tired of the melodrama. "About WHAT situation, Marie?" he questioned, sighing.

"The girl!" Marie shouted out, losing her composure briefly. The blonde huffed, tucking a stray blonde strand of hair behind her ear. "What are we going to do about the girl?" At her husband's clueless silence she threw her hands up, not believing how oblivious her life partner could be. "That gym leader... Misty. She's corrupting him, for god's sake; Gary might as well be a bum right now"

Stephen turned serious. "I'm also concerned about Gary's vocational crisis, but I don't think it's wise to blame—"

"I know gold diggers like her, Stephen, look what Gary's turned into! She's... she's not good enough for an Oak, you know it as well as I do" her stern and compelling voice stabbed her husband's ears as Stephen winced at the sound.

Rolling his blue eyes, and picking up his newspaper back up. "Fine, Marie, have it your way" he said, tiredly "...as always" Stephen mumbled under his breath, receiving a death glare from the blonde. Marie raised her chin, gaining back her usual pride.

"I'm glad your finally being reasonable, darling" The affectionate word was almost to hard to utter for such a cold relationship as theirs, but felt like a pact was being sealed with it. "We're going to have to talk to him"

Stephen laughed bitterly. "Marie, he's a grown up, I think it's a bit too late for heart-to-hearts"

Marie huffed, knowing the truth behind the mockery of her husband's voice. Her eyes shifted in mischief.

"Very well then" She announced, grinning as she neared the fireplace and lit a cigar. "I'm going to have to call in a favour"

The ash from the cigar landed back on the fireplace, which seemed to dance in the midst of the darkness, as if being threatened by some unknown force.

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Author's Note: Okay, let's start by saying how incredibly hard it was for me to write a scene with all 5 characters in it. Hah, and I know it was a very calm one so it's bound to get much, much worse. xD.

Alright, Comments? What did you think of the parents? "Stephen" and "Marie" just came to me, I thought the name suited them. xD Comments on the reactions? Gary's and May's reaction most certainly differed, and Stephen and Marie are kinda different, or at least I tried to write them that way.. xD Much more to come. Stay tuned!

Midnight Mist